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Wayne P.

Wayne P.

Joined on 01/05/05

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 19
Most Favorable Review

Solid

Coboc CY-U3-AAMF-3-BL 3ft SuperSpeed 5Gbps USB 3.0  A Male to A Female Extension Cable,Gold Plated,Blue,M-F
Coboc CY-U3-AAMF-3-BL 3ft SuperSpeed 5Gbps USB 3.0 A Male to A Female Extension Cable,Gold Plated,Blue,M-F

Pros: Solid cables. Can now access my PC's USB3.0 ports without having to crawl behind the desk.

Cons: Works fine so far. Have transferred huge files from USB 3.0 drives and no hiccups.

Most Critical Review

Has issues in my HTC EVO

Patriot LX Series 32GB Class 10 Micro SDHC Flash Card Model PSF32GMCSDHC10
Patriot LX Series 32GB Class 10 Micro SDHC Flash Card Model PSF32GMCSDHC10

Pros: Inexpensive for the speed and capacity. Hits rated read and write speeds.

Cons: I've been using this microSD card in my HTC EVO for the past two months but unfortunately I get an error message every so often to the effect: "There was an unexpected write problem to the microSD card, mounting card as read only" I then pull the card out and run it through a checkdisk on Windows 7 which always finds at least one error. I never saw this problem until I switched to this card. Used two lower capacity/slower cards before this one in the phone.

Overall Review: Have a few other lower capacity Patriot memory cards and haven't had an issue with any of them. This is the only card that I have with this capacity and I need it on my phone. I can't afford to buy a different card and try using this one elsewhere. I would not recommend purchasing this card if you need one for your HTC EVO.

One I received has issues

Mushkin Enhanced ECO3 2.5" 480GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDE3480GB
Mushkin Enhanced ECO3 2.5" 480GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDE3480GB

Pros: Tech support was GREAT... They were getting back to my emails within a few hours at most. Drive looked solid enough and the price was great. Specs look good for this type of drive.

Cons: Didn't come with ANYTHING; no cloning software or SSD tools available on manufacturer's website either. Unfortunately Dell Windows 10 image refused to install on this drive on a brand new Dell laptop where it installed onto an old s-l-o-w spinner HD and a different SSD (I tried multiple installs) without issues. I did manage to get Win10 to install using a backup image but the brand new PC kept getting BSODs (the SSD kept getting disconnected) after about 15 mins of usage. Cable was fine and PC works fine with the other drives I mentioned.

Overall Review: Hopefully I just got a fluke and I really hope that the company gets this straightened out because their CS department is great. That's why I'm still giving it two eggs where normally it would just get one.

Where's the rest of it?

Rosewill RHB-410 - Aluminum Mini-USB 3.0 3-Port Hub Plus 2.5" SATA 6G Enclosure Adapter
Rosewill RHB-410 - Aluminum Mini-USB 3.0 3-Port Hub Plus 2.5" SATA 6G Enclosure Adapter

Pros: Metal... partial metal. Works with SATA and USB3

Cons: Where's the rest of it? If you're going to name something "enclosure", heck it's even on the box, then you would expect it to actually enclose something. In this instance I ordered this thinking I would put one of my spare 2.5" drives in for protection and use it as needed. That is, as any other HD enclosure I've purchased. Not so here, the bare drive just sits connected to the unit and there's no protection for the drive at all.

Overall Review: Purchased this on a whim because there was a rebate. in retrospect, I should have done more research because even with the rebate, it's not worth it IMO. Oh well, live and learn.

Black sheep

CORSAIR Hydro Series H90 High Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler. 140mm
CORSAIR Hydro Series H90 High Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler. 140mm

Pros: A MUCH quieter pump compared to the competition. Nearly silent during normal operation. To me personally, this trumped the few degree advantage the competitor has on this unit..

Cons: Flimsy PLASTIC "backplate", and I use the term loosely here because it's so soft. The retainer nuts spun right around in it and I don't trust that it will hold during transport. Very little feedback when tightening the screws on the block due to all the plastic used. More pieces and a more difficult install than the 140XL. Only one fan and one set of hardware so customer on their own if they want push-pull. Doesn't appear that a matching fan is readily available.

Overall Review: Having installed both this and the 140XL in the last few days I can say that you get a lot more for your money with the competition in terms of actual hardware, performance, and "feel". The reason I had to switch to this was because the pump on the other unit made a high-pitched whine that caused ringing in my ears. The H90 appears to be the "black sheep" in Corsair's line-up. It does not even show up on their web-page with their other liquid AIO cooling solutions. I think the popularity of this form-factor will be increasing due to increased case support and superior cooling of a larger radiator, and the quieter 140mm fans. Corsairs really needs to up their game if they want this unit to stay competitive. At a minimum provide 2 matched fans and a real metal backplate. When installing, I would suggest just using your fingers instead of a screwdriver like Linus does in the accompanying video or you will end up rotating the nuts within the plastic back-plate.

12/29/2014

It Whines

Cooler Master Nepton 140XL – Push-Pull CPU Liquid Water Cooling System with 140mm Radiator and 2 JetFlo Fans
Cooler Master Nepton 140XL – Push-Pull CPU Liquid Water Cooling System with 140mm Radiator and 2 JetFlo Fans

Pros: Cooling of this unit is highly rated, which is why I purchased it. Flexible mounting options. Thick radiator and hoses. Tech support responded to my initial set of install questions within 24 hours, which I was impressed with.

Cons: Install instructions could use some work. Diagrams are good to a point but undoubtedly customers will have questions, like which orientations are OK, how much torque should be applied to the fasteners, etc.? The biggest, by far, con for me is that the pump exhibits a very high-pitched whine which is driving me crazy. I can hear it even if the fans are running at full speed. Definitely not acceptable. I'm also worried that if the pump should ever fail it will fry the processor since there is no alarm or automatic shutdown option in my BIOS for this contingency. Fan speed tuning is a must as the fans, at full speed, are way too loud. I noticed that running them in the comfortable range provides good cooling though so it shouldn't be an issue as long as you have the option to generate a fan-curve in BIOS.

Overall Review: Instructions do not mention that 4 of the long bolts are longer than the rest and therefore make mounting the push-pull configuration setup inside a case easier. It would be nice if there was something that held the backplate in place while trying to attach the cooling block. I opened a support ticket for the pump noise issue but fear that this will be an RMA. Not sure if I will chance it again and go for a replacement or just go for a different unit altogether.

12/26/2014